Traveller&#39;s hand kit



Jan. 31, 1967 M. M. FITCH TRAVELLER'S HAND KIT 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 16, 1964 Jan. 31, 1967 M. M. FITCH TRAVELLER'S HAND KIT 2 Sheets$heet 2 Filed March 16, 1964 United States Patent F 3,301,295 TRAVELLERS HAND KIT Murrie M. Fitch, 1120 Cove Road, Mamaroneck, N.Y. 10543 Filed Mar. 16, 1964, Ser. No. 351,993 Claims. (Cl. 15034) This invention relates to travellers hand kits and more particularly to travellers hand kits having a plurality of folded sections.

Among the encumbering paraphernalia of travel, the traveller usually finds the most irksome the small items that he must carry in a manner so that that they are conveniently accessible and that yet are too large to be carried conveniently in his pocket. These include such things as maps, guide books, medicines, sewing kits, lighter flints, first aid kit, spot remover, and, in some cases, even passports. Usually, such items are relegated to the luggage, with the result that they may be unavailable at the time when the traveller wishes to refer to them or to use them, as, for instance, in the cabin or washroom of an aeroplane. Some items of this type such as medicines are not readily or conveniently stored in luggage because they are subject to breakage.

In accordance with the invention, a multisectioned hand kit is provided arranged to carry suCh small items as maps, passports, guide books, medicines, and the like, which can be folded into a small size that is easily carried and that can also be arranged to be hung on a hook or doorknob or other protuberance in an aeroplane or in the travellers lodgings. The kit in accordance with the invention comprises a flat folding base or body having a plurality of sections with pockets, and cover flap having a means for easily fastening the fiap as folded over to retain the kit in folded condition. The body sections when folded over with the cover on top produce a kit of the size of one section with the pocket openings enclosed within the body.

The drawings illustrate a preferred embodiment in accordance with the invention.

FIGURE 1 is a front view of the kit in folded condition.

FIGURE 2 is a view of the kit with the covering flap opened to show the flap fastening means.

FIGURE 3 is a top plan view of the kit.

FIGURE 4 is a view in section of the kit taken along the line 44 of FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 5 is a view in perspective of a separate envelope which is adapted to be carried within the kit.

The fiat body 1 of the kit, as is best seen in FIGURE 3, is made of a suitably strong and desirably flexible material, such as leather, artificial leather, plastic sheet, for example, copolymers of terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol, polyacrylonitrile, copolymers of vinyl chloride and vinyl acetate, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, polyvinylidene chloride, nylon and polyvinyl butyral, and cloth of natural or artificial fibers, or mixtures thereof, divided transversely by the fold or score lines 2 into four sections 3, 4, 5 and 6 to facilitate folding. The sections are substantially equal in their dimensions, and extend the full width of the base.

Superimposed on the base 1 is a lining sheet or layer 7, attached to the base only at the score lines 2, and at one side 15. Thus, the liner 7 also is divided into four sections 8, 9, 10 and 11. The liner is attached to the base member 1 only at the score lines 2 and side 15, in a manner to define with the base 1 a plurality of pockets 12, 13 and 14, one for each section, and best seen in the opened view, FIGURE 3. The final section 6 is the cover flap for the base, and here the liner 7 is attached to the base throughout its periphery.

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Any method of attachment of the liner sheet to the base can be used. In the case of thermoplastic materials, base 1 and liner 7 are conveniently heat-sealed together, the fold or score lines 2 conveniently being produced under heat and pressure at the same time that the liner material is bonded to the base at these lines. In the case of leather and other nonthermoplastic materials, the two layers can be sewn together at these points, and the sewing will also create fold or score lines along which these sections can be folded over one upon the other.

Superimposed on the liner material 7 are two pockets or envelopes 16 and 17, each provided with cover flaps 18 and 19, and snap fasteners 20 and 21 for holding the covers closed. The envelopes are also bonded to the liner material, but only along three sides 22, 23 and 24, thereof, as best seen in the opened view, FIGURE 3, so that they define pockets 25 and 26 the entrance to which extends transversely of the base. A separate envelope 27 similar to the other two in size and shape but with an inner fold to allow for expansion to accommodate bottles and the like fits in the pocket 13 between the liner and the base, and is adapted to carry a medical kit, composed of a plurality of square containers 30, 31, 32, 33 and 34 with turntable lids and which can contain medicaments of various kinds, insect repellent, shampoo, spot remover, hair oil, anti-perspirant, and other liquid and paste substances, as well as tablets such as aspirin and capsules, 2. tube of medical ointment 35 and a thermometer 36. Containers 30, 31, 32, 33 and 34 can be of any desired shape, such as round and oval, as desired. The containers also can have attached lids or unattached lids, as desired. The cover flap 37 of this envelope can contain slots or loops 38 and 39 for carrying such tubes or medicaments, and the envelopes can also be provided with slots or loops to hold the containers. The envelopes are preferably formed from a transparent material, so that their contents are readily visible. The liner 7 can also be formed of a transparent material, if desired. It Will be apparent that the pockets 25 and 26 can be used for maps, which can readily be seen through the transparent envelopes. Papers and other thin material can be slipped into the side pockets 12, 13 and 14. Bulkier material such as guide books can be held in the envelopes 16 and 17.

The cover flap 6 is provided with a slitted aperture 40 of a dimension adequate to permit its being pressed over a doorknob or the like, the size of the opening being greatly expanded by the slit 41. The cover flap also includes on its inner face one member 50 of a readily opened hooked fabric fastener, the other member 51 being attached to the outside face of the intermediate section 4 of the base 1. A similar fastener 50, 51' is provided on the flap 37 and face of the medical kit envelope 27. Such fasteners can also be used in place of the snap fasteners 20, 21 shown on the other envelopes 16, 17 if desired. These fasteners are of the hook-andloop raised pile velvet fabric type desired in US. Patent No. 2,717,437, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference. See FIGS. 1 and 2. These fasteners employ a foundation structure including warp and weft threads, and additional warp threads of a synthetic resin material formed in a raised pile. The terminal portions of at least a portion of these raised pile threads have material engaging hook-shaped portions. When two pieces of such fabric are brought together such that their pile surfaces face each other, the corresponding hook-shaped portions on each surface will engage each other and fasten the two fabrics together. The type shown in US. Patent No. 3,009,235, which is a modified type using a terry or uncut velvet fabric as the loop portion, with a hooked velvet portion as in No. 2,717,437, can also be used. Such fasteners can be bonded to the base by an adhesive or sewn to the base, and hold the cover flap 6 firmly in position when folded over, but are equally readily opened for access to the contents of the kit. They are particularly advantageous in the travel kit of the invention because the two portions of the fastener engage over any fraction of their surface, and thus can accommodate a well-stuffed kit as well as a partially filled one with a tight grip, with the kit sides tightly folded over, unlike an ordinary fastener, such as a snap fastener.

It will be apparent that the base sections can be made of any desired size, and that the medical kit may be made to fit in any of pockets 12, 13, 14, as may be convenient. Section 5, one of the central sections, can also be provided with a transparent envelope, and additional sections may be added by extending the length of the base, all adapted for folding over, one upon the other, to form a completed kit as long and as wide as any single section, with a thickness equal to the sum of the thicknesses of all of the folded sections.

The following is claimed:

1. A multisectioned travellers hand kit comprising, in combination, a base body divided into sections in a manner to permit folding of one section over another, a liner having matching sections and bonded to the base body only at portions of the periphery of the sections in a manner to define pockets therebetween, with mouths opening at one side edge of the base body, a plurality of envelopes which match the sections of the liner, and each envelope being bonded to the liner section only at portions of their periphery in a manner to define a pocket therewith having a mouth opening facing a section boundary, an end section of the base body forming a cover flap having a fastening means attached to an inside face thereof, an aperture in the flap having a slit for enlarging the opening of the aperture sufficiently to permit insertion of the flap over a doorknob, and matching fastening means on an exterior face of another section of the base body for engaging the flap when the base is folded to hold the kit in folded condition.

2. A multisecti-oned travellers hand kit in accordance with claim 1, wherein the body, liner and envelopes are made of thermoplastic synthetic material, and are heatsealed along score lines defining portions of the periphery of the base sections and facilitating folding of the base sections to a kit having a width and length approximating one of said sections.

3. A multisectioned t-ravellers hand kit in accordance with claim 2, in which the fastening means are of a velvet type fabric comprising a foundation structure including a plurality of deft threads, a plurality of warp threads, and a plurality of auxiliary warp threads of a synthetic resin material in the form of raised pile threads, the terminal portions of at least part of said raised pile threads being in the form of a material-engaging means including hook-shaped sections.

4. A multisectioned travellers hand kit in accordance with claim 1 wherein at least one of the envelopes is adapted to hold a medical kit.

5. A multisectioned travellers hand kit in accordance with claim 4 wherein the medical kit envelope is separate and adapted to fit within one of the pockets defined by the liner and the base body.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,431,032 10/1922 Patzkowski l34 X 1,529,381 3/ 1925 Townsend 22974 2,183,428 12/1939 McNary -34 2,217,556 10/1940 Lupfer et al ISO-37 2,289,032 7/1942 Mofiitt.

2,648,366 8/1953 Higbee et al. 15034 2,717,437 9/1955 De Mestral 139-391 X 2,858,870 11/1958 Vihon 15035 2,863,484 12/1958 Herbener 15035 2,869,604 1/1959 Fitz-Simmons ISO-39 3,009,235 11/1961 De Mestral 139391 X 3,187,795 6/1965 Stephenson 150-39 FOREIGN PATENTS 100,608 6/ 1916 Great Britain.

FRANKLIN T. GARRETT, Primary Examiner.

JOSEPH R. LECLAIR, Examiner.

M. L. MINSK, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A MULTISECTIONED TRAVELLER''S HAND KIT COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION, A BASE BODY DIVIDED INTO SECTIONS IN A MANNER TO PERMIT FOLDING OF ONE SECTION OVER ANOTHER, A LINER HAVING MATCHING SECTIONS AND BONDED TO THE BASE BODY ONLY AT PORTIONS OF THE PERIPHERY OF THE SECTIONS IN A MANNER TO DEFINE POCKETS THEREBETWEEN, WITH MOUTHS OPENING AT ONE SIDE EDGE OF THE BASE BODY, A PLURALITY OF ENVELOPES WHICH MATCH THE SECTIONS OF THE LINER, AND EACH ENVELOPE BEING BONDED TO THE LINER SECTION ONLY AT PORTIONS OF THEIR PERIPHERY IN A MANNER TO DEFINE A POCKET THEREWITH HAVING A MOUTH OPENING FACING A SECTION BOUNDARY, AN END SECTION OF THE BASE BODY FORMING A COVER FLAP HAVING A FASTENING MEANS ATTACHED TO AN INSIDE FACE THEREOF, AN APERTURE IN THE FLAP HAVING A SLIT FOR ENLARGING THE OPENING OF THE APERTURE SUFFICIENTLY TO PERMIT INSERTION OF THE FLAP OVER A DOORKNOB, AND MATCHING FASTENING MEANS ON AN EXTERIOR FACE OF ANOTHER SECTION OF THE BASE BODY FOR ENGAGING THE FLAP WHEN THE BASE IS FOLDED TO HOLD THE KIT IN FOLDED CONDITION. 